The present invention relates to a method and apparatus with which a user has a processor execute a job by utilizing an electronic mail system, and more particularly to a processor selection system suitable for use in a system wherein a host computer is comprised of a plurality of processors.
A method by which a user has a processor execute a job by utilizing an electronic mail system has been known, for example, from a technique described in JP-A-64-67672.
In the technique described in JP-A-64-67672, a request for a business consignment and the contents of documents necessary for delivery of goods are sent from an electronic mail terminal to a host computer through a communication cable, and the electronic mail terminal receives the results of a predetermined job executed by the host computer.
The above-mentioned known art is designed such that a single processor directly receives a request for executing a job. Therefore, when a processor which has received a job execution request is instructed to transfer the job to another processor for executing the job, if the processor for receiving job execution requests is not operating, the user cannot send the job execution request even if other processors are in operation. Another problem possibly arising in the known art is that a load of the processor for receiving job execution requests is excessively increased.
Further, even when a host computer according to the above-mentioned technique is comprised of a plurality of processors, a user is required to select a processor to which a job is assigned and send electronic mail to this selected processor if a job cannot be transferred between the plurality of processors. Since loads of plural jobs cannot be distributed to the plurality of processors, a problem arises that processing of the jobs may be concentrated on a particular processor.